CONCLUSION

   Kingston lists the A1000 line of NVMe M.2 solid state drives as part of their entry level solutions and although they are still 2-3 times faster compared to regular SATA M.2 models in the NVMe market they are exactly that (for example their high-end KC1000 line – we should have a review up soon - is aimed towards professionals and demanding users). The performance of the Phison PS5008-E8 quad-channel NVMe NAND flash controller may not be stellar but it does offer performance levels of over 1600MB/s in read and 1000MB/s in write and several error correction features that boost its MTBF to 1 million hours with endurance numbers of up to 300TBW for the 480GB which we reviewed today. Unfortunately just like in every other M.2 drive we’ve reviewed to date thermal throttling was a very serious issue primarily during our SNIA testing suite so due to their very low cost we suggest grabbing an M.2 heatsink (EK Waterblocks, Alphacool and others make such solutions) to avoid ever encountering that issue.

   With a current price tag set at USD104.42 inside the USA (Amazon) and at 85Euros inside the EU (Amazon UK) the A1000 480GB NVMe M.2 SSD by Kingston costs roughly the same as your average SATA M.2 480GB drive. Granted it’s far from the fastest or most durable NVMe M.2 drive in the market today but if we’re being honest most consumers will never be able to tell it apart when compared with much faster models and that along with its very affordable price tag make the A1000 480GB NVMe M.2 SSD by Kingston well worth of our Golden Award.

PROS

- Good Overall Performance (1600MB/s Read & 1000MB/s Write)
- Endurance Numbers (300TBW / 1 Million Hours MTBF)
- Kingston SSD Manager Software
- 5 Years Warranty
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Thermal Throttling